


In Which Everything Goes Right

by marin27



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Fluff, Getting Together, Love Confessions, M/M, Oblivious Peter Parker, Oblivious Tony Stark, Relationship Discussions, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2020-04-08 05:29:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19100653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marin27/pseuds/marin27
Summary: Peter has the biggest crush on Tony, and like every other pining teenager, he writes and doodles about his infatuation for the older man. Poor forgetful Peter, leaving his notebook for Tony to see.Things unravel... In all the best ways.---In which Tony explains the two ways this can go.So much fluff.





	In Which Everything Goes Right

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lizzie1495](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizzie1495/gifts).



> Again, I have to thank KimidollSan for thiss!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️😊 Thank you so much for the idea, really, I owe you a lot for being my muse. 
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing this and seeing the plot unfold without me even doing much. 
> 
> Of course, I had to put sprinkle in some Insecure!Tony in there.
> 
> Enjoy!

 

“Bye, Mr. Stark! Have a good night!” Peter calls out from over his shoulder, skipping out of the lab, brown eyes sparkling to take one last look at his mentor, practically heart eyes paired with a dopey grin. The engineer doesn’t even notice the overflowing affection in the kid’s eyes, waving a dismissal hand in his direction, “You too, kid. Don’t stay up too late.”

Peter turns on his heel, whistling a low tune as he heads to the elevator.

Tony glances up, seeing the kid’s blue notebook left on the lab table. “Hey, kid, you left your—” he turns back around, only to see an empty hallway, “—notebook.”

He quirks his lips, placing down the welding arc and takes off his welding gloves, getting up from his chair. He walks over to Peter’s side of the lab table, pulling his goggles off to inspect the book and takes in the scrawled ‘Property of Peter Parker’ in the bottom corner of the deep blue front cover, book full of loose papers. Running a hand over the cover, he tells himself there’s no harm in looking through it; besides, it’s probably just random notes for school.

Tony flips open the cover page to see formulas of physics, another page for calculus. His brows raise to his hairline. _The kid has to calculate the trajectory every time he swings? Impressive for a seventeen year old._

He sifts through several more pages, seeing random scribbles of thoughts, peppered throughout the culmination of study notes. He doesn’t hide a grin when he sees a small spider doodle on one of the pages. He flips the page, only to stop and stare hard, eyes widening.

His heart speeds up at the sight of a heart, written inside is ‘Peter + Tony’. Right underneath is a coloured-in bold ‘Mr Peter Stark’. He moves onto the next page, seeing his name written in beautiful cursive handwriting, with little hearts dotting around it.

Tony, for the life of him, can’t stop the wide smile from threatening to split his face, feeling warmth go up to his cheeks. His ears heat up even more when he glances at another page to see the symbol of his Spider-Man suit with Tony’s arc reactor in the body, right next to another drawing of Tony’s name, this time in a pink heart. Tony swears his heart stops at the small scribbled ' _he looks adorable when he’s focused on something he cares about.'_

He explores the rest of the copybook, seeing more and more of Peter’s cute doodles and little thoughts of Tony.

 

_‘my favourite coffee is the one Tony makes’_

 

_‘sometimes I think the world is a little warmer because he’s in it.’_

 

 _‘what a cutie_.’ Right next to a drawing of his arc reactor.

It… warms his heart and honestly boosts his ego to see first-hand how the kid thinks of him. Tony didn’t even know that Peter thought of him this way, which thrills him in a way he didn’t expect. Well, maybe the reason why he’s reacting like a teenager in love instead of ignoring all of this is because the engineer has his own share of secret pining feelings for the doe eyed teenager who brightens his day with a smile.

Running his fingers over each of the doodles and words delicately, he can almost imagine the kid writing all of these down in class, distracted by Tony in his thoughts. Tony flips through the pages with nimble fingers and a flattered smile, as if it’s something to be treasured.

He spends the rest of the night staring at each drawing, ingraining every single word Peter writes of Tony into his brain. He falls asleep on the lab’s couch, notebook left half open on his chest. Tony doesn’t admit to anyone it’s the best sleep he has in days.

 

* * *

 

 

Peter laughs so hard he nearly chokes on his food, Ned’s face contorting into one of disgust as Michelle paints a very inappropriate yet hilarious picture of Peter and Tony into their brains. He’s red by the time Ned has joined into the laughter, shaking as well. Ned shoves fries into his mouth, saying, “You’re nasty, MJ.”

Michelle just scoffs, “I’m not the one who has a crush on their mentor, who’s literally three times their age.”

Peter pouts, “Mr. Stark won ‘Sexiest Man On The Planet’ for five years in a row and we live in a world where Ryan Gosling exists. And you’re the one to talk, MJ—” throwing a fry at her, ignoring her grunt of irritation, “—I don’t hear myself patronising you about your sexual fantasies with the Black Widow.”

Michelle’s eyes narrow to slits, downing her chocolate milk, “That’s fair.”

“Do you think Mr. Stark is one to be gentle?” Peter wonders out loud, taking a bite of his fruit salad. Considering their many similar conversations before, the two of his friends don’t even react, with Michelle just shrugging and throwing out a, “Nah, he was a playboy, remember? I’d think he’s kinda rough. However—” she waves her potato chip in the air, “—he is pretty old, so maybe he needs pills to get it up.”

Peter grimaces, “C’mon, it’s Tony Stark, I really doubt he needs help in that aspect.”

“Doesn’t matter, he’s still pretty old,” Ned says absentmindedly.

Ned frowns at his open textbook, still trying to complete the unfinished homework from the night before. “Peter?”

The teenager hums. “Do you remember how to do this equation?” Peter leans over the table to glance at it, “Yeah. I have it written in my notebook.”

Peter takes his bag, zipping it open to rummage it. Brows furrowing, he checks his bag one, two and three more times. The realisation comes in with the horror very, very quickly, striking him lightning fast.

_Oh shit._

With an aghast look adorning his face, he turns to MJ and Ned, who both have questioning and slightly concerned looks. “I think I left my notebook back at Mr. Stark’s lab.”

Michelle cocks a brow, “Yeah, so? You can just ask someone else for the equation.”

Peter slowly shakes his head. Michelle searches through her memory and her own eyes go wide as realisation dawns on her, “No, you didn’t.”

Peter whimpers pitifully. Ned looks between the two of them, “Did what?”

“Tell me it’s not the notebook with all your doodles of his name,” Michelle’s tone is commanding now, leaning over the table to stare down at Peter. Ned lets out a dramatic gasp, “ _Peter!_ ”

The poor teen just slumps into himself, slapping his head in his hands, “I know! Oh my god, he’s going to kill me.”

Both of his friends’ expressions are of actual concern, with Ned saying nervously, “Is there any chance he wouldn’t have seen it?”

Peter shakes his head fervently, his eyes going wide when he thinks of the next thing, “No, it can’t be. I left it on the same table we both work on. There’s no way he’ll miss it.”

Michelle hums in pity, standing up to discard her tray and reaching over to pat his shoulder sympathetically, “Good luck for later.”

He makes a face, now remembering he also has another lab session with him later in the day. He slams his hands on the table, rather dramatically, and whines, “I don’t think I’ll survive it later. What if he kicks me out cause he’s creeped out by the fact I’ve been crushing on him for forever and not only that he’ll see that I wrote stuff like wanting to marry him! I’m such a creep! Who does tha—”

Ned slaps a hand over his mouth, a soft look in his features. “Peter, it’s going to be alright, just take a deep breath and remain calm. Mr. Stark won’t just do that to you, you mean a lot to him too.”

He can feel his friend pout under his hand and Ned gives him the same sympathetic look Michelle gave. Peter shakes his head, taking off Ned’s hand in the process, and mutters, “I’m scared, Ned. What if it changes the way he sees me after this?”

Peter’s eyes sting, and he quickly takes a deep breath to calm himself down. He’d really rather not cry in school. Flash would have a field day. He wipes away the tear with the sleeve of his sweater quickly, shaking off the nerves. The bell rings, and Peter bolts up from his seat, swinging his bag over his shoulder to get to class. “I’ll see you later, alright? Have a good rest of your day, Ned.”

Ned doesn’t say anything, letting his friend leave, with a pitying look on his face.

 

* * *

 

 

Peter is a shaking mess when he stumbles into the alleyway, slipping off his sweater and jeans, chucking them into his backpack. He slips on his suit, pressing the emblem so it fits snugly around him. Leaping into the air, he wonders how long it will take for Tony to say a word about the subject.

Once he lands on the window of the lab, he knocks the glass, waiting for Friday to open it up. He frowns under his mask when it doesn’t budge. Has Tony already changed his mind about wanting Peter here? “Karen, why isn’t the glass opening?”

“Mr. Stark said to meet him in the living area of his penthouse. He’s awaiting your arrival.” Peter’s heart swoops down to his tummy as he grumbles. He shoots out a web to swing to the other side of the tower, landing on the balcony of the common room. The glass door slides open with a, “Welcome back, Mr. Parker. Boss is waiting for you.”

Peter takes off his mask, his face turning into a grimace as his head swims. Tony is probably waiting for him to have a conversation about the notebook, and about Peter’s feelings, and he’ll never want anything to do with him ever agai—

“Kid?”

Peter’s head whips up, meeting the gaze of his concerned mentor. His hand comes up to rub the nape of his neck awkwardly, “He-Hey, Mr. Stark. How-How you doin’? You doing good? Cause I’m doing good. I’m doing great, I mean, uh…”

Amusement dances in Tony’s eyes, a knowing grin on his face, “I’m doing swell, Peter. Come sit with me.”

Peter only then notices the set up in the living room. There’s a huge bowl of popcorn and a bottle of soda on the coffee table, a stack of blankets on the couch and Empire Strikes Back paused on the plasma television screen. Apprehension tugs in the corner of his mind, “Mr. Stark, what’s this?”

The man rolls his eyes as he gets to his feet, “Dear lord, kid, how many times do I have to remind you to call me Tony.”

Peter just shrugs, “Only if you stop calling me ‘kid’.”

“Touché. You had fun at school?” Tony moves around the couch, walking slowly as he goes towards Peter. The teen resists the irrational urge to run away as he watches the man stalk closer, he shrugs, “Um, school is school. Normal as always.”

Tony’s smile is sly, reaching out to slide off the strap of Peter’s backpack off his shoulder and holding it in his hands, “Must be tired. Carrying this bag and swinging with it around all the time.”

Peter furrows his brows, looking at Tony with increasing incredulity. “Uh, it’s okay I guess—what are you doing?”

He watches as Tony opens the bag to take out his shirt and jeans, handing them over to Peter. He blinks when their fingers brush, “Change into your clothes. Let’s not go to the lab for today.”

Peter freezes, his brows now shooting up, his voice trapped, “That’s… Uh, what’s so special about today?”

Tony shrugs, looking at Peter through half-lidded eyes, “Nothing. I just want to spend time with you.” His tone is low, and with the small distance between them, it’s enough to make Peter’s heart race and his face burn pink, finding it almost impossible to not look at Tony’s even pinker lips. _Almost_.

“Uh—okay. Okay. I’ll go, uh, change. I’ll be right back.” Peter spins on his heel, his face dropping his mask and turning into one of full confusion. Peter is _so, so confused,_ his mind whirling. What’s going on? What is Tony doing? Does he know what he’s doing to Peter? And most importantly, does he _know_?

He changes quickly, coming out into the common room barefooted as Tony forgot to give him his shoes. He reaches the couch, seeing Tony scroll through his phone. He pockets it the moment he hears Peter coming, who places his suit back into his backpack and jumps into the couch, feet cold.

The teen has an expectant, almost nervous, look on his face. He glances to the television. “We’re watching Empire?”

Tony nods, scooting closer to Peter until only a foot is left between them. Peter notices this, but doesn’t say a word, in worry of starting a conversation he won’t know how to manoeuvre through. He swallow hard, and awkwardly shifts his position, bending a knee to his chest. “Are we starting it or—”

Friday plays the movie, and the loud familiar theme plays, startling Peter. Tony hides his smile behind his cup of soda as he takes a sip, only to grimace at the taste. “When did I lose my taste for soda? Damn it. Must be great being able to consume sugar like it’s nothing.”

The seventeen year old shrugs, and leans forward to take the bowl of popcorn and shove a few popped kernels into his mouth, not quite trusting himself to saying something appropriate.

As the movie plays on, the more Peter is on edge, tenser than he’s ever felt in his life. He doesn’t know if Tony is just easing him into the conversation, mentally preparing him for the inevitable rejection and subsequent kicking-out-of-house, but he reasons that Tony is acting normal… or at least as close to normal as he can be, because Tony has never wanted to push a day of working in the lab just for a movie, it’s usually something that Peter would encourage Tony to do, due to his workaholic antics. Peter has never had a hang out with Tony with him setting it up, it’s Peter who does these things just as an excuse to spend more time with the genius.

The anxiety curling in his gut is not elevated by how casual Tony’s tone is. It’s so easy and light, a little different from the snarky and confident way he speaks to Peter in the lab or when they go out for missions. It’s… very odd. And it doesn’t help that the notebook hasn’t been discussed yet. Maybe Tony hasn’t seen it?

Peter shifts in his seat, stopping when he feels Tony’s knee brushing against his. When did he move so close? How did he not notice that?

Peter keeps his eyes straight on the screen, face tense and lips nearly pursed. He only breathes properly when Tony lets out a yawn. His brows furrow. _Did he not sleep last nigh_ —

Only to freeze when Tony raises his arms up, and rest his arm behind Peter across the couch. He inhales air harshly, confusion hitting him like a freight train. Tony glances at him, but otherwise doesn’t say a word.

Peter feels like he’s hyperventilating. He’s internally screaming at this point. He lets one more moment to breathe, before he exhales and says meekly, “Mr. Stark, I mean, Tony? What—What are you doing?”

The engineer freezes beside him, nearly identical to Peter’s own catatonic state. The man opens his mouth and closes it like a gaping fish, a light dusting of pink over his cheeks. Peter has never seen Tony like this. It’s… _adorable_.

“Did you really just do the yawn and stretch?” Peter asks as his lips twitch to form a grin despite the peculiarity of the situation. He turns to the man, who averts his gaze as to gather his scattered thoughts.

“Maybe we can focus on the movie instead,” Tony says as he doesn’t meet Peter’s eyes back. The grin slides off, the worry and anxiety slowly spilling over.

The genius finally looks at Peter and _finally_ notices the troubled look on him and waves a hand for Friday to stop the movie because Peter needs his attention right now and he can’t ruin this one chance and turn it into a huge misunderstanding. “What’s wrong?”

The curiosity and fear is bursting out in Peter; he isn’t putting it past Tony to kick him out if talks about the notebook but he has to know because if it turns out that Tony knows about it and is ignoring it, it’s worse than flat out rejection. And well, if he doesn’t know about it, then that’s just luck on Peter’s part.

“Mr. Stark, I was just wondering if… if you’ve seen a notebook I left behind in the lab last night.” His fingers are fiddling with the fabric of his shirt, eyes downcast. Tony’s tone is casual as he says, “You mean this notebook?”

His head whips up to seen Tony holding his notebook in his other hand, probably hiding it from behind him, and a grin on his face. Peter gulps and reaches for it, only for Tony to pull it out of Peter’s reach, his grin turning into one of mischief. Peter’s eyes land on Tony and notices the look.

 _He knows_.

He slumps back into his seat, all fervour and bubbly energy that he has been faking gone, his lip starting to tremble as the ramifications start to hit him. Tony is going to pretend that this doesn’t bother him, that he hasn’t seen the inner workings of Peter’s very personal thoughts towards the man that he has a very huge crush on. He wants to shove his head into the ground in embarrassment for that.

“Are you going to kick me out now?” Peter mumbles, both of his legs coming to his chest to curl into a ball, eyes trained on his knees. Tony pauses when he puts down the book beside him, “What?”

He feels his burning embarrassment, aching pining feelings bubble up to the surface and he can’t help the defeated tone, “Because you saw everything in it, right? It’s okay, Mr. Stark, if you don’t want anything to do with me after this, it’s okay.”

A moment passes. “ _What_?”

Tony’s hand that is on the couch brushes Peter’s back but he finches, and he quickly retracts his hand away. “Wait, do you think I’m going to kick you out over what you wrote?”

Peter meekly nods. Tony just sighs because he knows it wasn’t going to be this easy, why did he think it was? Peter is more oblivious than Tony, so he should have known this would turn out to be a misunderstanding. “Peter, you have to listen to me when I say this, alright? Listen very closely.”

Peter glances up to Tony’s eyes boring into his.

“I saw what you wrote, I saw everything. Every doodle and all those notes. Everything. First off, I have to say I’m incredibly flattered.” Tony fails to find any amusement in Peter from his joke. “Secondly, it does not have to change anything between us. Because, kid, I have something to confess too.”

“Your feelings are not exactly one-sided, buddy,” Tony says, something like self-deprecation colouring his tone as he purses his lips sheepishly. Peter perks up, eyes going wide as disbelief fills his bones. “You—You? You really?”

Tony grins at Peter’s stuttering, feeling the same fondness whenever the kid does it out of habit and relaxes unconsciously, revelling in Peter’s glowing presence. Peter huffs, turning in the spot to face Tony directly, “You—You’re into, into me? Like—really?”

The breathiness to his voice is fucking adorable. Tony can’t help reaching out to brush his knuckle softly under Peter’s chin, eyes lingering on his lips for a split second, “Yeah, I am, kid. Even though I know I shouldn’t.”

Peter melts at the touch, eyes going half lidded and Tony is stunned by his reaction because he did not expect Peter to be that responsive, flinch away maybe but not… accept it with an open heart just like that. He doesn’t deserve Peter, Tony knows.

He sighs regretfully, his hand inching out to grace the rest of Peter’s jawline with soft touches, “You have two options here, kid, and I want to explain them fully to you.”

Peter hums, eyes still hazy as he blindly reaches up to Tony’s hand so it cradles his cheek, loving the warmth it radiates, and Tony bites his lip. _Holy fuck, can he not be anymore adorable?_

“M’kay, just let me—” Peter scooches closer until his knees are pressing into Tony’s chest and he pulls Tony’s arm on the couch to wrap around his waist, leaning down until he rests his head on Tony’s shoulder, still holding onto his hand to his face. Tony is practically cradling a ball at this point, a very cute, lovable ball.

Tony blinks but quickly readjusts so he’s comfortably flushed to Peter, feeling the teen’s soft hair tickle his chin. Tony laughs softly, thumb rubbing his cheek bone. “I’m supposed to be level-headed while having this conversation. You just made it twenty times more difficult.”

The kid just shrugs, burrowing further into his embrace.

“Talking about those two options, I was thinking of how to approach you last night. But then it hit me that your choice also matters in this because you’re still young and I don’t want you to do anything you’ll regret in the future.” He can feel Peter nod on his shoulder, and he forges on, “You have the choice to push me away, forget this ever happened and that we can return to normal after this. We can put this behind us and that’s okay. I want you to know that that option is open.”

With bleary eyes and a curious glint, Peter asks the question Tony dreads he would say, “Do _you_ want that to happen?”

Tony sighs, tightening his hold a fraction, “Kid, it doesn’t matter what my say in this is.”

“Yes, it does,” Peter mumbles, a sharpness to his tone that Tony doesn’t expect. A moment passes between them, Tony staring into the eyes of his world, and Peter being so unbelievably clueless it hurts Tony how cute that is. Tony speaks soft and quick, words tumbling out like a machine gun in that Tony-Stark-esque way, “I don’t think you get it, kid. I need you to know that I’m already all in it for you, I’m already meeting you half way before you’re even in the race. And that I’m okay with you going the other direction. Because you need that open choice. You have the chance to back out of this right now. Because if you say yes…”

Tony searches the amazing doe eyes he’s fallen in love with, searching for a thread of apprehension or hesitance, because what he’ll say next will be the most soul-bearing thing he has ever said to Peter, and the most open moment they share. “If you say yes, I will never let you go. I’ll never be able to.”

Peter eyes are wide, full of hope and joy and something so utterly _him_ , it physically pains Tony how he can’t kiss the teenager right now. He’s beaming. “And what’s the second option?”

Tony bites his lip hard, eyes going straight to Peter’s mouth, “We go into this together and, full disclosure here, we date. But I want to do this right, we have to. You deserve at least a normal relationship—or as normal as it can get with a nearing fifty year old—”

Peter laughs and— _oh wow, if Tony didn’t just melt into a puddle of goo right there and then_ —puts hand on Tony’s jaw, “I like your age, though.”

Tony squints, “Is that you indirectly saying you have a thing for older men? Cause then that means I’ve gotta fight other older creeps off of you too.”

Tony is smiling when Peter laughs again, feeling like the world is right for a second. “We go on normal teenager dates, like to the movies, uh amusement parks, McDonald’s, pizza late at night and drive-ins. All those normal dates teenagers go on. I’m not taking you to any galas or anything extravagant until we’ve exhausted every single high school relationship cliché there is.”

Peter frowns, “But why, though?”

Tony’s smile is tight now, eyes almost sad, “Because I don’t want you to lose out on your teenage years for dating me. I want you to get the high school experience and still have that teenage normalcy. You understand? You still get to have your firsts, and we still get to date.”

Peter is looking up at Tony, realising with a booming heart that Tony is going out of his way to make this relationship legit, if Peter is willing. That he wants Peter to know that with either choices, he still gets to have those treasured high school memories. And yet his friends wonder why Peter has the biggest crush on this selfless, wonderful, amazing man.

Peter unwinds a leg and throws it over Tony’s lap, bending it around him like a cocoon. Despite how casual Peter is with his affection, his heart is still banging hard against his chest, the butterflies are still there, threatening to make Peter a blushing, stuttering mess with a wrong move. Peter knows he’s still in his infatuation stage, but he hopes it doesn’t last too long. He wants to be able to be in Tony’s company and revel in it, not scurry away in insecurities because of his crush.

“I think you already know what my choice is, right?” Peter whispers, breath sending a chill down Tony’s back. Tony's tone is dry when he says, “Either we’re going to make out in a second or I’ve been reading all your messages wrong.”

Peter throws his head back, guffawing and Tony quickly joins in with his infectious laughter, bright genuine grins on both of their faces. Tony leaves a quick peck to Peter’s cheek, smirking at how fast the teen turns into this bashful pink bushy-tailed ball of sunshine. _God, this cutie will be the end of me._

“Well, are you going to kiss me? For real?” Peter asks. At that, Tony squints, “That’s another thing I wanted to talk about. I was thinking that we take this slow. I wanna court you. That’s the whole reason for this set up.”

Peter looks around the living room, the popcorn, the soda, the movie paused on the television. He turns to look back at Tony, tone turning high in surprise, “This is a date?”

Tony nods, watching Peter light up again, and once again, finds his heart almost bursting with affection. Peter is almost vibrating with energy now, a vigorous glint in his eye, “But I wanna kiss you now.”

Peter _whines_ , like a puppy starved for attention, and who is Tony for denying him his needs?

He chuckles, giving Peter another look. Then, throwing all his caution to wind, he kisses Peter.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed that!!! I wrote this with a lot of fluff because I really wanted to show their soft sides that will come out even more when they're really in an established relationship. I wanted to show it without them getting together yet.
> 
> I actually have huge plans of turning this into an Established Relationship series, progressing with their relationship over time but I'm still unsure of how to go with that fully yet (time for your amazing ideas, KimidollSan!!!!!)
> 
> Please comment and tell me what you think!
> 
> Say hi on my [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/noncommited-writer)!!!!


End file.
